Afghanistan deputy spy chief among 23 dead in suicide blast

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Taliban claim responsibility for Laghman attack

MEHTAR LAM: A Taliban suicide bomber attacked officials leaving a mosque east of the capital Wednesday, killing the country’s deputy intelligence chief and 23 other people in a major blow to Afghanistan’s security forces, AP reported.

Laghman governor Lutfullah Mashal, who escaped injury in the attack, told Reuters the attacker burst from a shop and blew himself up while officials were getting into their cars outside the mosque.

He said the 23 dead included two provincial officials as well as Abdullah Laghmani, deputy head of the National Directorate for Security and one of the highest-ranking security officials in President Hamid Karzai’s government.

“It is obviously the work of the Taliban who are trying to destabilise Afghanistan by trampling Islamic values,” Mashal said, adding that 36 people were also wounded in the attack.

Violence in Afghanistan reached its highest level this year, escalating further in the run up to a presidential election last month, the result of which has yet to be announced. The election was a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and for US President Barack Obama, who has sent thousands of extra troops to Afghanistan this year.

Responsibility: Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Islamist group had sent a suicide bomber to carry out the Laghman attack.

The presidential palace confirmed the death toll, including Laghmani. “By conducting such a vicious act and killing of religious scholars and innocents, the terrorists showed that they trample Islamic values on the orders of their masters and can go to any extent in committing a crime,” Karzai said in a statement.

A Reuters witness in Mehtar Lam saw a pickup truck carrying wounded people covered in blood. Eight ambulances left the scene headed towards Jalalabad, the nearest major city. agencies

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg7_1